Great Australian Bake Off: Poppy Seed Oaty Biscuits

We know what you’re thinking: baking any of those decadently sweet treats on The Great Australian Bake Off TV series is the last thing you need with beach season now here.

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But we have your waistline firmly in mind with these healthy and easy to make biscuits from the companion book (see details below).

Ingredients

For the biscuits

• 360g oatmeal (or whole oats blended in a food processor)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100g plain wholemeal flour
• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
• 2 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 130g salted butter, cubed and chilled
• 1 egg, plus enough milk to fill up to 180ml after the egg is cracked into a cup
• 100g poppy seeds, for sprinkling over dough
• black sea salt flakes

For the egg wash

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon milk

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 200⁰C. Place the oatmeal on a large baking tray and then into the oven for 5–10 minutes. Watch it carefully. You want to toast the oatmeal just like you would toast nuts to bring out the flavour. Allow the oatmeal to cool.
2. Place the flour, baking powder, sea salt flakes and caster sugar in a food processor and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse until a fi ne breadcrumb texture. Add the milk and egg mixture and pulse a few times in the food processor to bring the mixture together. Add 1 tablespoon poppy seeds and pulse once or twice more. Be gentle, you don’t want to crush the poppy seeds. Turn out onto a work surface or into a large bowl and bring the mixture into a dough. Knead lightly to get a smooth texture.
3. Take about a third of the dough and roll out between two sheets of baking paper. You want the dough to be only 3–4 mm thick, but before you get there, sprinkle over some poppy seeds – as many as you like – then finish rolling out.
4. Cut any shape biscuit you like. Baste each biscuit with the egg wash and sprinkle over the black sea salt. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes, turning over halfway through. Watch the biscuits. Some of them will inevitably cook faster than others, particularly the biscuits on the edges of the tray.
5. Repeat the rolling and basting process using a third of the dough each time. Serve the baked, cooled biscuits with your favourite cheese.

Extracted from The Great Australian Bake Off Companion (Hachette Australia)